Yesterday the girls and I went to a pumpkin farm -- it was "Scout Day" so the girls got in free. (I paid $12) (The pumpkin was not included) This was, in fact, more than just a pumpkin farm -- it used to be a tobacco plantation, but ten or so years ago its owners decided to diversify into organic produce and "agritourism." So they grow strawberries and blueberries, and cabbages and carrots, and they sell their produce at farmer's markets and through CSAs. And they do school tours and scout events and they turned the back 40 acres of their farm into a huge playground.
I love this place. Every time I visit I think how fun it would be to run such a place myself. (I know. Please. I grew up on a farm and I know it's really not that fun at all.) But it's all so wholesome and pretty and nice. And I learn something new every time I go. For example, did you know that asparagus in the field looks like this:
It's that weedy-looking stuff in the foreground. Huh.
The farm also a huge variety of pumpkins, not just the kind people buy for jack-o-lanterns. There are peanut pumpkins:
and squashy "Cinderella" pumpkins:
and "warty" pumpkins:
and stripey Mexican pumpkins:
Here is an impressive tower of pumpkins, but what I love about this picture is that scrap of sky at the top. That's a Carolina blue sky. Every time I see the sky looking like that, I'm glad that I moved here.
The farm also has animals, such as Rosco the donkey:
and some baby pigs:
The girls love the playground at this place. I love it too, because everything is made of a re-purposed something else. There's a cow train made of old barrels, and swings and an obstacle course made out of old tires. There's a huge underground slide and tin-can stilts, just like in some Ramona book:
There's a giant bin of corn kernels, and an inflatable thingy to jump on:
And of course there's the hayride that gets you there:
Anyway, it's a good time. And as I said, I know better than to romanticize about life on a farm...but this place makes me do just that, if only for one autumn afternoon every year.
I love this place. Every time I visit I think how fun it would be to run such a place myself. (I know. Please. I grew up on a farm and I know it's really not that fun at all.) But it's all so wholesome and pretty and nice. And I learn something new every time I go. For example, did you know that asparagus in the field looks like this:
It's that weedy-looking stuff in the foreground. Huh.
The farm also a huge variety of pumpkins, not just the kind people buy for jack-o-lanterns. There are peanut pumpkins:
and squashy "Cinderella" pumpkins:
and "warty" pumpkins:
and stripey Mexican pumpkins:
Here is an impressive tower of pumpkins, but what I love about this picture is that scrap of sky at the top. That's a Carolina blue sky. Every time I see the sky looking like that, I'm glad that I moved here.
The farm also has animals, such as Rosco the donkey:
and some baby pigs:
The girls love the playground at this place. I love it too, because everything is made of a re-purposed something else. There's a cow train made of old barrels, and swings and an obstacle course made out of old tires. There's a huge underground slide and tin-can stilts, just like in some Ramona book:
There's a giant bin of corn kernels, and an inflatable thingy to jump on:
And of course there's the hayride that gets you there:
Anyway, it's a good time. And as I said, I know better than to romanticize about life on a farm...but this place makes me do just that, if only for one autumn afternoon every year.
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